Lewis & Clark & George (1997) User Reviews

Tarantino you are not.

[EXodus25X · 4/10 · 2 August 2008]

A bad Quentin Tarantino rip off, at least I hope that's what they were going for because at least then I could respect the director for admiring Tarantino. One scene a "singing" scene with Rose McGowan is far to well done and genius for this film and could have only been stumbled on by mistake by this director. So besides his Quinton inspiration and Rose McGowan and her one good scene this film sucked. Some of the crappiest dialogue I have ever heard, I'm willing to bet why McGowan doesn't speak much is because of how crappy her dialogue would have been. Tries to be funny, never is, tries to be dark and isn't, tries to be stylish and is just bland. Who dishes out the money to make movies like this, I'm hoping it was all the directors so no one else's money was wasted. If not for McGowan the whole cast is awful and when McGowan is your best hmmm, I gotta wonder.

"You gotta swear you won't kill nobody with these guns."

[Ghenghy · 6/10 · 1 August 2002]

Lots of indiscriminant murder and Rose McGowan behind the wheel of a pink 58' Olds with a cigar perched between her trademark red lips...what more could you ask for? You know, I love that girl but somebody finally figured out the real key to her intoxicatingly wicked charm is to keep her silent throughout the entire film. Just the hottest little demon from Hell homewrecker since Joan Crawford!(Spoiler alert) She has one line in the movie and it's worth waiting for, or maybe you'll just want to fast forward to the last scene to hear it for yourself. Her facial expressions and hand gestures are a lot more effective than the dialogue here anyway which is just downright stupid. I wish there was another word that better describes the pure dumbassity of this movie but there just ain't one. Salvator Xuereb I thought was pretty cool as your "here we go again" dissasociated psychopath that broke out of prison with some computer nerd to go on a treasure hunt for gold. They even managed to weave in a tattooed dog, a hit man and a poisonous snake...OOOOOOHHHHHHH! Has it's moments, particularly when the tourists from NY stop to photograph one of our treasure hunters. That one had me rolling on the floor. If you like road movies you can probably somehow find the patience to sit through this one too. Made me hungry for "Love and a 45." 6/10

Brilliance of Rose McGowan's acting is amazing.

[spavork · 14 February 1999]

The film starts out slow but changes as soon as Rose McGowan,a.k.a. George appears. The acting is pure brilliance. I have never seen anyone who could make such a character as believable as she has. The plotline was very,very thin but I believe that the acting saved the movie. If you're looking for great acting and to KILL a little time then this is the film for you.

TIRPE!

[BrashFink · 3/10 · 14 March 2002]

This movie looked fun on the cover and I honestly thought 'how bad can this be?' Little did I know. Out of the gate the dialogue was UNBEARABLE. It was contrived, unrealistic and not even interesting. Dialogue on UPN syndicated television shows is more natural sounding. The story was implausible and had nearly zero play-off at the end. The end with the snake is almost confusing and seemed staged. The only remotely interesting character is Rose McGowen's, who is mute which prevents her from being ruined with cliche ridden garbage dialogue (well, at least until the end when even she has to speak). The only thing that even gives this a 3 over a 1 or 2 is Rose McGowen's nude scene. Truly awful. Save yourself the trouble and rent something more interesting like a Barney Video.

Two Guys & a Girl

[great_sphinx_42 · 7/10 · 9 April 2001]

'Lewis & Clark & George' definately fits into a nitch- that of the black comedy road movie- but it does a good job of fulfilling the requirements of said nitch without becoming too generic. Rose McGowan is George, a gorgeous, deadly and mute young woman with a lot of tricks up her leopard-print sleeves. She has stolen a rare snake from a zoo, leaving her boyfriend to the devices of a mad bowler who proceeds to pursue her for the rest of the film. Not every character in this movie is a moron, as has been asserted. You can be pretty sure that George, at least, has a triple-digit I.Q. Lewis and Clark are a pair of escaped convicts, as different from each other as can be. Lewis is blond, illiterate, (it's a running joke that he keeps encountering and faking out other illiterate people,) and a cheerful murderer. Clark is dark-haired, a computer nerd, and would seem to have the sense of self-preservation Lewis lacks if not for the way he falls for George like a ton of bricks. They all share the desire to find a Mexican gold mine. There aren't any big mysteries here, except maybe how Rose managed to stay so pale shooting almost the whole movie in near-desert conditions. Fairly predictable things happen. It's a fairly predictable movie. Nonetheless, at least this predictable movie is fun while it lasts.

What can come between two guys and their loot?

[lost-in-limbo · 7/10 · 15 August 2008]

Rose McGowen is one of those actresses who always have got me spellbound whenever on screen. For me it's the selling point of the dark, tongue-in-cheek neo-noir crossed southern cross-country road movie 'Lewis & Clark & George'. She radiantly plays George a mute, but her body language, kooky habits and that way she smokes that cigar is voluptuously presentable. It hard not to be infatuated, and there's one great sequence with her lip-syncing an old song number in the back of a pink Cadillac. Surrounding her are Salvator Xuereb and Dan Gunther as the two escaped cons. Xuereb brings random energy to his loose-wired, gun happy Lewis and Gunther's nerdy and squirmy take of Clark brings out the varying sides of the human nature between the three as they track down the hidden gold. Other than the three leading performances everything else falls down to being conventional even with its off-kilter and kinky strokes. The story (purely fantasy) is minimal with plenty of witty and trivial exchanges for comical effect (maybe they took a shine to Tarantino, but it reminded of the even better road movie that came out the same year 'Kiss or Kill') with numerous offbeat characters (look out for James Brolin, Paul Bartel, Aki Aleong and Art LaFleur) and fashionable objects. Even though it's thin on substance by virtually being tied up of bits and pieces, but it breezes by in no time nor does it outstay its welcome. It can get predictable (the usual mischievous and devious acts), but its relaxed vibe and stimulating character edge and chemistry are sure-footed. Writer / director Rod McCall uses some flashy, sped up (you know those hip) techniques (Michael Mayers smoothly rapid and inventive almost interpersonal photography style) and smartly inserts the rural locations into the action. Nothing about is fresh or stylish, but it's productively done for a slight production. The music soundtrack has a rock steady country swing that fits right in. A curious and involving low-key low-budget enterprise, but not without it lapses.

Fun road movie

[Tito-8 · 7/10 · 12 April 1999]

First off, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this film. Although this road movie has some flaws, it was fun in a sometimes dark way, and the leads all gave good performances. The picture also had a pleasantly unique "feel" to it, thanks in large part to the frequently slick editing. There were times when I thought that the movie was beginning to slow down, but then something hilarious would happen that would get me interested again. There were also times when it seemed that things were getting all too predictable, but then something would surprise me. This film was a very pleasant change of pace for me, and although I'm still not sure of what possessed me to rent this, I'm certainly glad that I did.

Just another wonderful indie-flick...

[rmobsessed · 10/10 · 31 October 2000]

If you are the type who loves those road [indie] flicks, then this is definitely the movie for you. The acting is great and the plot is interesting, although the ending is predictable.

First off, I and many others, probably agree, that Rose McGowan saved this movie. Her beautiful face and EXTREMELY good acting is purely brilliant. Dan Gunther and Salvator Xuereb are good too. They are really good together, these three.

If you like indie-road-flicks or Rose McGowan, this is the movie for you.

In the wake of "Pulp Fiction"

[Wuchakk · 7/10 · 18 January 2015]

"Lewis & Clark & George" is a road movie/crime thriller/black comedy about two scumbags who escape from a New Mexican prison, Lewis (Salvator Xuereb) and Clark (Dan Gunther), the former's a murdering psycho with a charismatic spirit and the latter's a computer geek. The escapees immediately start searching for a gold treasure in a lost mine whereupon they hook up with literal gold-digger George (Rose McGowan), who happens to be mute.

The movie has that quirky, "hip" flare of movies of the mid-to-late 90s, like "Pulp Fiction," "Michael," "Mojave Moon," "The Way of the Gun" and "American Psycho." If you have a taste for these types of films you might like "Lewis & Clark & George," which I find better than all of 'em except the first two.

The fact that the two main protagonists are criminal scum and George isn't much nobler works against the movie because it's impossible to root for them, but the film makes up for it in numerous ways. For one, it is consistently amusing and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, like the massacre of a group of annoying vacationers. Once you get the joke, you're able to kick back and enjoy the zaniness despite the characters' moral offensiveness. Secondly, the style of the film is entertaining, including the cool soundtrack (I realize describing it as "cool" is lame, but I didn't want to use "hip" again; and "pop" doesn't quite fit). Thirdly, there are at least two quality females in the cast with the focus on McGowan's character. Although George is an increasingly despicable character, Rose is certainly a uniquely alluring and curvy woman and she's in her prime here. Needless to say, this film's a must for McGowan fans. The other female is Paula Sorge as the lonely and hyper-sexed trailer trash. Fourthly, the climax offers a fitting ending for the ignoble "protagonists."

Another comparison would be 1966's "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" as both films take place in the American West, are very stylized, and feature three characters vying for treasure with the inevitable mishaps and double-crosses thereof. The differences being that "Lewis & Clark & George" takes place in the modern day and one of the three protagonists is a (hot) woman (there are, incidentally, zero notable women in "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly), not to mention the movie's only half as long at 83 minutes, which is a good thing in my book as "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly" is definitely overlong, good (bad and ugly) as it is.

The film was shot in SW New Mexico, specifically Hillsboro, Kingston and Truth or Consequences.

GRADE: B

A breath of fresh air for the genre

[scream58 · 6 September 1998]

Road movie aren't found often today. Or maybe I should say, good road movies aren't found often today. This movie, with a short of cheesy plot, is fun to watch, especially if you enjoy Rose McGowan. It gives a whole new meaning to quality. Plus, you'd never guess the ending.

childish, ghoulish, predictable southwestern US road movie

[FredM · 16 August 1998]

Movies of this ilk are built on the false conceit that just below the surface of the social fabric of life in the US there is a pervasive swamp of bizarre and outright murderous personalities erupting haphazardly but daily through the surface and giving evidence of the "true" dementia ready to cascade quite randomly into "everyday" existence. There may be eight million stories in the naked city but most are damned boring and far more subject to quiet desperation than to blatant murder and mutilation. This is a young film maker's early effort but, hey, how about a little originality. The reality is that there is nothing new to the filmatic depiction of escaped gun-toting idiots, whores, and the David Lynch-like presumption that surrealism is more real than reality. I guess its just difficult to make good, interesting movies out of the humdrum disasters, desires, tragedies, and triumphs of un-extreme, mainstream life. But that is why intelligence, perception, and creativity are the necessary concomitants of achievement. Everbody in this movie is a moron. This is not hyperbole. Everybody in this movie (apart for a dog and one Mexican) is an outright moron. Every waitress, mailman, passerby, and, especially, cop is a pinhead. Check out Treasure of Sierra Madre, Bogie's Desperate Hours, any of Cagney's criminals, or It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World for the roots of this lightweight kill-a-thon. My God, its so predictable.

surprisingly good!

[gulshan-1 · 26 April 2006]

This film has way too long been lying around until I decided to watch it and it was then I realized what have I been missing all along..this movie rocks!! and its completely twisted in every sense especially seeing all the 3 goof-ball characters, including the sexy Rose McGowan having fun whilst heading for the highway to kill..All you need to do is just sit back, enjoy the wild ride and have fun like they all did..it starts a bit obscure when you don't know where the film was going but then it promises to keep you on as you eagerly want to see what the players are are up to next..Cheesy as it intentionally made to be sauced with some classy old-fashioned tunes to suit its premises..overall, an Entertaining midnight movie that comes above its rank from from the other moderately budgeted road movie flicks like Delusion, Trouble Bound, American strays which are also meant not to be taken seriously...

Pretty darned bad

[mossicon · 7 August 1999]

I think this movie was trying to be like a Quentin Tarantino movie, but it was too linear to achieve that. Like some of the other people post, this movie is pretty predictable, (ie) you knew George was the real villain from when you first met her. Left me with a bad taste in my mouth.

Why are movie-makers so fascinated by homicidal idiots?

[xorys · 10 May 2000]

I've never understood why movie-makers are so fascinated by idiots who kill people for no apparent reason. Personally I find idiots who kill people for no apparent reason about as interesting as slugs, and there is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that this movie would have been *WAY* more interesting and rewarding if slugs had been substituted for all the principle characters.